Do You Know?

Intro

The Sin

We have all sinned. That is an unfortunate fact of life. We have all sinned and therefore fallen short of God’s glory. However, what John is saying here is that it is possible for the Christian to not sin. Quite often, we opt for sin instead of righteousness, right? We like to go and “have a little fun” or maybe we need to cover up something we did, so we lie. Maybe you can’t stand that one guy for what he said to you so long ago.

So we do sin. But it is entirely possible to continue in a sin-free life.

My mind goes to the woman caught in adultery...

John 8:1–11 ESV

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

So it is entirely possible to carry on in a life without sin. Would it be difficult? Absolutely! But possible as a Christian!

But Jonathan, what about those of us who aren’t Christians? What about us who won’t go to heaven when we die?

The answer is you are still dead in your sin! You’re living your life as a sin-filled being!

The greatest words to hear are “neither do I, go and sin no more.” Whenever we stand broken before Jesus asking for his salvation, he doesn’t immediately drop the hammer on us and call us guilty. No, he has compassion. He extends his saving grace to us. He says “neither do I, go and sin no more.”

The Savior

This takes us to the Savior. The Bible says that we have an advocate for our sins before the Father. Jesus is that advocate. He pleads the case for our sins. When someone is advocating for someone, they’re typically just a messenger, right? So Jesus is the one that delivers the message to the Father that we are forgiven through Jesus. But forgiveness is just Jesus removing the penalty from us. He took the heat off of our backs. We don’t have to worry about standing before God on judgement day to account for our sins. When the time comes for our lives to end, if our sins aren’t forgiven, then we will have to answer for them. Thankfully, Jesus has offered forgiveness for all of our sins.

Luke 23:34 (ESV)

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Jesus, while on the cross, looked at the criminals beside him and said those words. He was looking at the soldiers who were cursing him, and said those words. He was looking at the ones gambling below him and said those words. But most importantly, he looked forward to us in our sin and said “Father forgive Jonathan, for he knows not what he does.” The only thing on his mind while hanging on that cross was the forgiveness of our sins.

Forgiveness of sins creates our freedom in Christ.

The Bible says that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means that Christ took on the entirety of God’s wrath in place of us. He was a substitute for us! It should’ve been us on that cross!

The forgiveness comes in with God’s mercy. He could’ve easily extended that wrath onto us with no questions asked. We do not derserve any salvation or special treatment. However, he withheld that wrath from us!

But if he ONLY withheld his wrath, then he wouldn’t be just. He would be an unjust judge. We discussed that some last week.

So to fulfill the requirement of justice and satisfy the wrath of God against sin, Jesus took our place in what is referred to as the Great Exchange or if you want to be fancy, double imputation.

Simultaneously, our sin guilt was imputed onto Christ and his righteousness was imputed onto us. We exchanged our status for his!

The Status

With that being said, we now have a status and appearance as righteous. In the eyes of God, we are the righteousness of Christ. So we are permitted to enter into the gates of heaven!

In the eyes of the world, we should be the righteousness of Christ. So that we can bring them with us! We have the ability and the requirement to represent Jesus and his love and righteousness to the world.

So how do I know? How do I know if I’m saved? How do I know if I will be going to heaven? When God looks at me, does he see my sin or my savior?

The Bible is clear that if you are keeping his commands, then that is an evidence of your salvation. It’s not a requirement for salvation, but an evidence.

Do you know? Do you want to know? Here’s how to know...